All eyes on Tamim’s experience

Dubai is unknown territory for the Bangladesh
cricket team, having never played in the country
before but Tamim - the anchor around whom the Tigers
looks to build their innings, will have an idea or
two about the conditions having featured in back-to-
back PSL champions Peshwar Zalmi.
“We haven’t seen the wicket yet but I have a little
experience of playing in Dubai because of PSL,” Tamim
was quoted as saying by Khaleej Times.
“But you can’t expect the wicket to remain same all
the time. Sometimes it is good for batting and
sometimes it helps the seamers and the spinners. So,
we need to see what kind of wicket we get. But
playing in Dubai is always fun and we are very
excited to play on Saturday and we should have a good
game,” he added.
Tigers will also go up against former coach Chandika
Hathurusingha’ Sri Lanka, who they have met
frequently in recent times.
“Our former head coach is from Sri Lanka and we have
played a lot of times against Sri Lanka in recent
times. So, we know them in and out. But it all
depends on the day and whichever team ticks the most
boxes will have a good chance of winning,” felt
Tamim.
Speaking on the Tigers chances he said that they were
only focusing on the first two games at the moment.
“It is a different format and you have to win the two
matches to qualify and go to the next round. So, for
me, the first two games are really important and we
need to win those two games and go to the second
round and see what we can do there. Thinking too
ahead, I don’t think that is going to work and we
need to take it match by match,” he said.
“I’m here to do the job for the team and I will try
to do it to the best of my ability depending on what
is required,” added Tamim.
The experienced batsman will most likely have Liton
Das as his opening partner and Tamim said it would
not be a surprise since Liton has been performing
well.
“Liton has been there for a while now. He has been
opening in Test cricket and opened in T20s and he has
been batting quite well. If the team management
decides to open with him it won’t be a surprise,”
said the 29-year-old.